Hello, I’m Erin. I am currently in high school, so perhaps a little younger than the typical reader.
I’m fascinated by the thoughts here. This is the first community I’ve found that makes an effort to think about their own opinions, then is self aware enough to look at their own thought processes.
But, this might not be the place for this, I’m am struggling to understand anything technical on this website. I’ve enjoyed reading the sequences, and they have given me a lot to thing about. Still, I’ve read the introduction to Bayes theorem multiple times, and I simply can’t grasp it. Even starting at the very beginning of the sequences I quickly get lost because there are references to programming and cognitive science which I simply do not understand.
I recently returned to this site after taking a statistics course, which has helped slightly. But I still feel rather lost.
Do you have any tips for how you utilized rationality when you were starting? How did you first incorporate it into your thought processes? Can you recommend any background material which might help me to understand the sequences better?
Last week, after a lot of thought and help from LessWrong, I finally stopped believing in god and dropped my last remnants of Catholicism. It is turned out to be a huge relief, though coping with some of the consequences and realizations that come with atheism has been a little difficult.
Do any of you have any tips you noticed about yourself or others after just leaving religion? I’ve noticed a few small habits I need to get rid of, but I am worried I’m missing larger, more important ones.
Are there any particular posts I should skip ahead and read? I am currently at the beginning of reductionism. Are their any beliefs you’ve noticed ex-catholics holding that they don’t realize are obviously part of their religion? I do not have any one immediately around me I can ask, so I am very grateful for any input. Thank you!